Updated 8:45 am, Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Yes, Ms. Horne’s impassioned plea moved a few of the recalcitrant forward. But, really?

You have a sizable and vocal minority supporting a flag under which no South Carolina troops fought during the Civil War. And if you read the 1860 “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union” you will learn that the decision was based on slavery and the north’s not honoring your state’s property rights in your slaves.

Is that the heritage your state sought to honor by keeping the Confederate flag in place?

Or is it the 1961 segregationist opposition to the Rock Hill lunch counter sit-in that occasioned the unfurling of the former battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia?

Jump forward to 2015. In the wake of a premeditated attack in a church that resulted in nine horrendous and needless deaths, you have a governor who first declined to remove the offensive flag, saying “CEOs haven’t complained.” Shortly thereafter she reversed herself, but as a matter of civic duty rather than personal belief, yet failed to call for a special session of your legislature to expedite its removal, or to provide any moral leadership as the world watched and awaited.

Then when the voting was over, this standby took a highly public, but largely undeserved victory lap.

“At least we’re not Mississippi?” That’s like a runner who trains hard for a marathon, finishes near the end and says “At least I wasn’t last.” If that’s the mark of success, you’ve set a mighty low bar for South Carolina.